﻿﻿Whenever I see pelagic cormorants, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, perched on pilings and diving into the water, they remind me of dragons. I submitted this gouache painting to the 2014 Puget Sound Bird Festival poster contest. I knew that the judging committee prefers a looser art style for their poster selections so I let myself have fun with the watery layers and iridescent-colored feathers. For the poses, I used references from different types of birds and then made sure the coloring was mostly accurate to the pelagic cormorant. Overall, I'm happy with how the motion of the image turned out.